#401: The Ramones - Ramones (1976)

Zack: Oh man. I used to listen to this album all the time. Then I just kind of stopped listening to it one day, probably because I discovered that London Calling could scratch any itches I had for 70s punk music. Honestly, I think I’ve missed it. It can be kind of rough, but in an unabashed way. There is a surprisingly clear vision for what the album is supposed to be, which is pretty remarkable considering this was the debut by a band that was, in many ways, inventing a new aesthetic. It knows exactly what it wants to be and really hits the mark. You can imagine how bands often considered the contemporaries of the Ramones, namely The Clash and the Sex Pistols, heard this and just said yeah let’s do this now. And while the Sex Pistols made the sound more aggressive and the Clash brought in a more diverse group of influences and merged them into punk, it’s clear that the Ramones left a great foundation for them to work off of. I still prefer London Calling, but my appreciation for this album was definitely rekindled.

Favorite Tracks: Blitzkrieg Bop; Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World; Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue

Emily: I was introduced to the Ramones many years ago in a perhaps unusual way. Rather than a cool friend or cousin playing a few tracks for me, I first came to love Blitzkrieg Bop when it was featured on the Jimmy Neutron movie soundtrack. I have no idea why my brother and I decided we needed to have that CD for endless future car rides, but it's a surprisingly good, albeit random, collection of pop music. Alongside Aaron Carter, Britney Spears, and a Lil Romeo/Nick Cannon cover of Parents Just Don't Understand, the soundtrack also features some classic punk and pop jams - most notably We Got the Beat by the Go-Gos and Blitzkreig Bop by the Ramones. While the Ramones probably would not want to see their music in the company of these other artists, let alone on a soundtrack for a Nickelodeon kids movie, it kinda makes sense to have it there. Blitzkreig Bop, much like the rest of the Ramones' eponymous debut, is a simple yet hard-driving wallop of power-punk. It's the rough-edged predecessor of the punky '80s pop of the Go-Gos and their peers, as well as the scores of pop-punk bands that emerged in the '90s and '00s. But the Ramones did it first, and they still did it best. While the coolness factor may not be quite the same after years of marketing and soundtrack features, this album stands the test of time with punks and non-punks alike.

Favorite Tracks: Blitzkrieg Bop; I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend; Let's Dance

#219: Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (1977)

Zack: I think it’s fair to say that the big three of punk are The Ramones, The Clash and the Sex Pistols in some order or another. Technically, The Ramones were first, and The Clash had the longest stretch of sustained excellence. But I’ll be damned if anyone did the whole punk rock thing as hard as the Sex Pistols did. I mean, damn. The Ramones had a 22-year career that included 14 studio albums. Since my first London Calling experience, I’ve listened to every Clash album but their debut (on this list, so I’ll get to it) and Cut the Crap (unanimously understood to be terrible) and they really were just consistently great, even though they updated and expanded their sound pretty much at every turn. To be put in the same level with those two when you were around for two years and have exactly one album is an impressive feat. And they definitely earned that spot. This album is so consistent throughout. The instrumentals are more aggressive than The Ramones. Even if I compare them to Give ‘Em Enough Rope (the most apt comparison I can come up with within that era), there’s just a sharper edge, a certain violence, that you don’t hear elsewhere. It’s something that we heard echoed in The Dead Kennedys and The Germs, but the general attitude that they imparted in their music sticks out from the contemporaries we’ve already experienced and shows just how monumental their influence was, even though they only had one album to do it.

Favorite Tracks: Anarchy in the UK; Pretty Vacant; God Save the Queen

Emily: Somehow, in all of my time listening to punk and punk-influenced music, I have never listened to the the entirety of the Sex Pistols debut (and only) album. I'm a bit embarrassed by this fact too, since essentially all of punk music and culture can be traced back to this album. It has the bouncing-but-sneering three-chord sound, the loud scream-sung vocals, the social and political commentary, and - most importantly, at least to me - the punk attitude. That angry, vocal, don't-take-shit-and-don't give-a-shit attitude that became an absolute staple of the movement that followed and its many revivals and iterations. The Sex Pistols embody punk because they created it, and everything that followed built and developed off it. So if you've ever been a punk fan, or a pop-punk fan, or a post-punk fan, or an alternative fan, or a grunge fan, give this album a listen. My guess is you'll be a fan of it too.

Favorite Tracks: Anarchy in the UK; God Save the Queen; No Feelings